Coincheck parent acquires French-regulated crypto firm for Europe expansion

Major Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck is expanding into the European Economic Area (EEA) by acquiring Paris-based, regulated institutional digital asset prime brokerage Aplo.

According to a Tuesday announcement, Coincheck entered a stock purchase agreement to acquire Aplo. As part of the deal, all issued and outstanding shares of Aplo are to be exchanged for newly issued ordinary shares of Coincheck. The acquisition is expected to close in October.

The exchange explained that the acquisition is “the first step of an important component of Coincheck Group’s stated mission” of making “acquisitions for retail and institutional crypto businesses outside of Japan.”

The firm is also currently exploring other potential acquisitions inside and outside its home market to acquire “complementary companies or specialized knowledge, expertise, products, services, licenses, or technologies,” as part of this strategy.

Aplo provides institutional users with a trading application and supporting infrastructure. The firm is currently registered as a digital asset service provider with the French Authority for the Financial Markets (AMF) and is working toward obtaining a full European Union Market in Crypto Assets Regulation-compliant (MiCA) license.

Aplo’s role in Coincheck

According to the announcement, Aplo serves more than 60 active institutional clients, including hedge funds, banks, asset managers and other businesses. As part of Coincheck, it will offer financing solutions including cross-margining and deferred settlement, and expand its liquidity and product offerings in multiple jurisdictions.

Coincheck also plans to explore whether Aplo could provide significant additional liquidity to its trading platform. Gary Simanson, CEO of Coincheck Group, explained that the acquisition gives his firm access to technology and expertise recognized by European institutional customers and added:

“By combining our strengths, we believe we will be better positioned to meet the needs of institutional crypto investors, which includes plans to provide a valuable B2B2C offering to banks looking to make crypto investing available to their customers.”

Monex Group is on a path of aggressive expansion

The announcement follows recent reports that the Tokyo-based, publicly traded financial services firm and Coincheck owner, Monex Group, is considering launching a Japanese yen-pegged stablecoin. Monex Group Chairman Oki Matsumoto said, “Issuing stablecoins requires significant infrastructure and capital, but if we don’t handle them, we’ll be left behind.”

Coincheck is also seeing significant growth, with February data showing a 75% jump in revenue in its fiscal third quarter, which the CEO of its parent company has attributed to a successful merger and subsequent listing on the Nasdaq. Coincheck Group, the parent company of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, made its public debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Dec. 11, 2024.

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